Why does the Moon change colour?

You're in luck, as tonight, June 11, 2025, the full moon is known as The Strawberry Moon. Sounds fruity and delicious, No? It's not made of a moon, nor will it be pink in colour. But have you ever looked up at the sky only to notice the moon is like a giant cheese wheel? Sometimes it's bright white, other times warm yellow, orange, reddish and even blue. Though it's a very usual sight, have you ever wondered why the moon changes colours? 

If you flew to the moon, it's quite predictable that you'd land on something pretty dull, on the shades of grey,  with no fancy colours that are seen from Earth. Moon has no colour, and it's a giant rock made of minerals like magnesium, iron, feldspar and other minerals. When these minerals are ground into fine dust, they are grey. So, if the moon is truly grey, how are magical spells created when we see them displaying different colours from Earth?

Why does the Moon change colour?

It all comes down to one thing: our atmosphere- the invisible layer of air and gases that surrounds our planet. However, this layer isn't crystal clear but instead filled with tiny particles, such as dust, smoke, pollution, and even water droplets. These small yet powerful particles act like filters and bend the light from the moon before it reaches our eyes. To illustrate and simplify this, you can run a flashlight through the fog, smoke, or even a glass of water (add a few drops of food colouring). The light sure doesn't look the same anymore, right? It bends, changes or gets blocked. This is the same phenomenon that moonlight faces when travelling through Earth's atmosphere.  And the closer the moon is to the horizon, the thicker the atmosphere it has to shine through. And that's when the magic happens.

Shades of Moon

The white moon is probably the most common colour you see the moon as. When the moon appears pearly white, it means the light of the moon (or sun) is peeping through relatively clear air with a minimal amount of dust particles or pollutants. It's like the moon is shining directly at you, straight into your eyes, without much interference. It looks white or silver, the closest to its greyish tone.

Moving on with the cheese wheel or yellow moon. This means the moon is low on the horizon and a moderate amount of particles in the atmosphere. These filter out the blue light and let more yellow reach your bare eyes.

And during smokey evenings, pollution-heavy nights or lunar eclipses, we see the moon orange. When this moon appears, there is a significant amount of dust, smoke, or pollution in the air. The relatively larger particles are pro at scattering the shorter wavelengths of light (blue or green) and allow the longer wavelengths (red or orange) to pass through to your eyes.

Blue moons are very rare, which proves the proverb "Once in a blue moon" to be true. Well, this doesn't necessarily turn the moon into a vibrant blue in the sky. This occurs when specific types of particles are present in the sky, such as volcanic ash or smoke from a forest fire. These particles are larger than typical dust, can scatter light more effectively and allow more blue light to reach our eyes. This is very rare but possible.

But! The moon isn't some chameleon. Its colour also depends on where it is in the sky when you're staring at it, its location, air quality, weather or the time of the year. If your friend says he is looking at a pearly white moon, but you're watching a yellow moon, both of you are right. When it's directly above your head, it travels the shortest distance, so the answer is white. But when it's near the horizon, it has to cross through more air, maybe up to 40 times more. So it looks red or orangish. 

Even though the moon is just a grey rock floating in space, it's one of the colourful things in the night sky - thanks to the atmosphere's ability to show its own Instagram filters.

The writer can be found at meghrahman1234@gmail.com